Vapourware System Shock 3 by OtherSide Entertainment - taken over by Tencent!

[Ash]

It is a dynamic threat, somewhat simulated. somewhat unpredictable. even on replays it's not clear if there's danger, because the where and when of the spawn is what is dynamic, which then leads to further dynamic actions e.g when and where you fight, do you run away and get chased? Kill it with your last bullet only to realise there's another that spawned?
It's not 100% dynamic (and nor should it be, dev control is still needed), but it's not scripted/static either.

 

[Roguey]

What are you two on about? You fight hundreds upon hundreds of enemies, and it has the same exploration to combat ratio as the average of pretty much everything else of this style (RPGs, survival horrors) traditionally-speaking.

Up until the endgame, combat involves you versus a single opponent in a cramped corridor now and then.

 

[Ash]

Your memory is

It's not Doom legions of hell (no game is) but there is plenty encounters involving multiple enemies at once. Even worse when an alarm sounds, never ending swarm of death!

I play the game annually and it's my second favourite game of all time, for what it's worth. It's very much a combat game, just one that does other things in abundance too, and there is the somewhat frequent yet short interlude from combat in lieu of interaction with the environment etc.
Prey, now that was the occasional enemy in a coridoor. It somewhat lacked hand-placed enemy counts AND had no dynamic enemy respawn system, at least not to the extent of Shock 2. I think the mimics may be dynamic, but they're somewhat infrequent and jumpscares at best anyway. Barely a meaningful threat.

Pretty ingenious idea really, the mimic system. If only they weren't harmless nuisances. You don't want them too powerful of course but they're just flies to be swatted. Sad.

 

[RoSoDude]

What are you two on about? You fight hundreds upon hundreds of enemies, and it has the same exploration to combat ratio as the average of pretty much everything else of this style (RPGs, survival horrors) traditionally-speaking.

Up until the endgame, combat involves you versus a single opponent in a cramped corridor now and then.

Even corridor combat against one enemy often leads to interesting scenarios. Do you close the gap and go for melee, which avoids wasted ammo/weapon durability, or do you do reliable damage at range with one of many weapons, each with a variety of ammo types and firing modes to suit the situation, or use a psionic ability, dipping into yet another resource economy entirely? A shotgun hybrid will chip you down at range, where a pipe hybrid can be rushed with melee but will do a lot more damage up close. The projectiles of monkeys, cyborg midwives, cyborg assassins, and security robots can be dodged, but dish out heavy punishment if your movement is miscalculated. Backpedaling vs protocol droids and spiders can get you killed if your agility or damage are too low. There are all of these interesting decisions to make every time you hear an enemy's footsteps around the corner, even if you're not aware you're making them, and the depth is multiplied whenever you encounter multiple enemy types in new level geometry.

Yes, you'll end up thoughtlessly bashing a pipe hybrid's brain with your wrench every so often in the Engineering corridors, and there are some exploitable strategies in combat. More often than not, however, the combat scenarios lead to dynamic, interesting gameplay that forces you to think on your feet and act. The occasional pushover isn't such a terrible thing anyway, and does well to keep up the pace and tension of gameplay.

 

[Roguey]

Your memory is

This was the impression I had shortly after playing it http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...o-far-not-impressed.82886/page-9#post-3329883

Even corridor combat against one enemy often leads to interesting scenarios. Do you close the gap and go for melee, which avoids wasted ammo/weapon durability, or do you do reliable damage at range with one of many weapons, each with a variety of ammo types and firing modes to suit the situation, or use a psionic ability, dipping into yet another resource economy entirely? A shotgun hybrid will chip you down at range, where a pipe hybrid can be rushed with melee but will do a lot more damage up close.

You're overthinking it. As I said back in 2014, melee up until deck 4, then shoot everything.

 

[Ash]

"melee up until deck 4"

I hope this is a conscious preference, and not some misguided excessive attempt to save resources. Totally unneccessary to do, guns and/or psi attacks are viable from deck 1, and you probably expend a shitload of health attempting to melee everything. I don't even think the game was actually intended for a melee playstyle, but rather it is something to mix and match with other tools. After all, close and personal is downright silly vs some enemies, such as turrets. It's still possible to do, but I don't think the devs designed the game from the ground up as "melee guy, gun guy, psi guy". Melee compliments all playstyle archetypes, but isn't one of it's own per se. Only as a niche style.

 

[Roguey]

"melee up until deck 4"

I hope this is a conscious preference, and not some misguided excessive attempt to save resources. Totally unneccessary to do, guns and/or psi attacks are viable from deck 1.

According to past me, deck 4 is when I no longer had to think about whether it was worth using bullets to kill a thing.

 

[DeepOcean]

What are you two on about? You fight hundreds upon hundreds of enemies, and it has the same exploration to combat ratio as the average of pretty much everything else of this style (RPGs, survival horrors) traditionally-speaking.

Up until the endgame, combat involves you versus a single opponent in a cramped corridor now and then.

Well, then that time where a shotgun hybrid, a pipe hybrid and a kamikaze robot were chasing me at the cargo bay hallways while I ran clueless in direction of two turrets is just a thing of my imagination...

 

[LESS T_T]

Someone said combat? Also, I think an "action-oriented, hybrid FPS/RPG" is most specific description about SS3's gameplay to date:

Combat Designer
Austin, TX

Description
We are looking for an experienced Combat Designer to join the System Shock 3 team. The Combat Designer will report to the Design Director and work closely with other designers and other disciplines to imagine and plan combat systems for our action-oriented, hybrid FPS/RPG. The Combat Designer drives the conceptualization and documentation of combat systems, prototyping and implementing to a high level of quality. Candidates must demonstrate a strong sense of what makes good gameplay. Candidates are expected to be organized and have excellent communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Assist Design Director, Animators and AI programmers in development of enemies, weapons and mechanics to bring the combat vision to life.
• Drive gameplay, system and content design through all phases of development, from concepting to complete specification to prototyping to shippable.
• Conceive, spec, implement and balance characters, weapons, mechanics, AI and other game elements that combine to create a combat experience that is both fun and strategically deep.
• Work within existing technology to support desired gameplay.
• Work independently to meet the needs and expectations of other disciplines but be able to work collaboratively across disciplines to guide content creation, notably animation, and AI engineering.
• Work effectively in an environment of iterative creativity, often in the absence of a strict, pre-set plan.
• Be able to discuss design concepts at a high level, in formal and impromptu settings. Be able to describe at the low level, in detail, the gameplay systems the player will engage with to ensure a compelling combat experience.
• Create and maintain design documents to share ideas, concepts, and design specifications in useful, accessible formats.
• Participate in prototyping and testing efforts to prove-out combat gameplay.
• Gather, acknowledge, and respond to feedback, adjusting design choices as necessary.
• Work with the Senior Producer and Design Director to define deliverables and schedules within the scope of available time and resources.
• Meet deliverables and take responsibility for the timeliness and quality of work.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional systems design experience (previous combat design strongly preferred).
• Multiple shipped titles on PC, consoles, and/or mobile.
• Experience taking a feature from concept to prototype to final.
• Working knowledge of and experience with various game engines, especially Unity.
• Passion for, and deep understanding of, combat mechanics.
• The ability to thrive in cross-discipline teams
• Experience designing and implementing numerous game assets including player abilities, enemies, weapons and tools.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines, quickly, efficiently and without significant direction.
• Good risk assessment skills and, with the Senior Producer and representatives of other disciplines, the ability to set appropriate priorities.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral, for presentation purposes as well as for design documentation – maintain rich, thoughtful, candid communication sideways, down and up in order to ensure the very best game is built.

Additional Skills and Pluses

• Experience designing one or more characters from the ground up, including their movement and combat functionality, AI behavior, and animation requirements.
• Worked on one or more big budget titles that took more than one year to develop.
• Knowledge of design disciplines outside of combat design – including level-building, gameplay systems and narrative.
• Enthusiasm for and experience playing and/or developing “immersive simulation” games.
• Technical or programming background.
• Experience with Excel and/or similar tools.
• Experience with scripting languages.
• Familiarity with source control concepts.
• Ability to research similar projects to understand the state of the art and how it applies (or doesn’t apply) to System Shock 3.
• Independent thinker who speaks their mind candidly and respectfully.
• Strong desire to build AAA quality games.
• Positive demeanor, strong work ethic, sense of humor.

If you meet the requirements and are interested in the position, send a cover letter and resume to jobs@otherside-e.com.

 

[Ash]

I stand corrected, and have never been happier to have done so.

 

[LESS T_T]

This pretty much confirms that they're using Unity: https://otherside-e.com/wp/jobs/

Level Designer
Austin, TX

OtherSide Entertainment is looking for a motivated Level Designer to join the System Shock 3 team. The Level Designer will report to the Design Director and work closely with other designers and disciplines to imagine and implement a wide variety of game environments for our action-oriented, hybrid FPS/RPG.

The Level Designer is responsible for every stage of level creation, from rapid iteration on early prototypes to final implementation, tuning and polish. Candidates must demonstrate strong proficiency with Unity and C#, as well as a solid understanding of how different approaches to level design can be used to achieve specific gameplay goals. Candidates are expected to be highly organized, with excellent problem-solving and communication skills.

This is a contract position, with the potential to turn into a regular salaried position depending on performance.

Responsibilities

• Assist the Design Director and Environment Artists with all aspects of level design, including creating layouts, placing enemies, tuning AI, and scripting interactions.
• Rapidly create prototype level layouts to support specific gameplay objectives.
• Own the implementation of levels through all stages, from initial concept to final polish.
• Work independently to meet level design objectives, while communicating effectively with other disciplines to guide the creation of all supporting content & features.
• Iterate aggressively towards creative goals, often in the absence of a pre-defined plan.
• Create and maintain level design documents to share ideas, concepts, and design specifications in useful, accessible formats.
• Participate in testing efforts to validate level layout and flow of gameplay.
• Gather, acknowledge, and respond to feedback, adjusting design choices as necessary.
• Meet deliverables and take responsibility for the timeliness and quality of work.

Qualifications

• Strong knowledge of, and experience with, Unity and C#.
• Passion for, and deep understanding of, FPS and Immersive Sims.
• Experience taking at least one 3D level through every development stage from concept to final.
• Ability to work under tight deadlines, quickly, efficiently and without significant direction.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral, for presentation purposes as well as for design documentation.

Additional Skills and Pluses

• 1+ years of professional level design experience (or 2+ years of experience on Mods and/or Community Mapmaking).
• Knowledge of design disciplines outside of level design – including gameplay systems, in-game economies, and narrative.
• Technical or programming background.
• Experience with Excel and/or similar tools.
• Experience with scripting languages.
• Familiarity with source control concepts.
• Ability to research similar projects to understand the state of the art and how it applies (or doesn’t apply) to System Shock 3.
• Independent thinker who speaks their mind candidly and respectfully.
• Strong desire to build AAA quality games.
• Positive demeanor, strong work ethic, sense of humor.

If you meet the requirements and are interested in the position, send a cover letter and resume to jobs@otherside-e.com.

 

[Big Wrangle]

Makes sense that they would stick to the engine they're handling for Underworld Ascendant, though I suppose one could have speculated Nightdive would have given them the tools they're using for the System Shock remake. Hopefully whoever gets the job has worthwhile additions.

 

[Tacgnol]

I'll suffer through Unity for a good game.

Better a bad engine and a good game than the other way around.

 

[LESS T_T]

Looks like Starbreeze expects this to be released by 2020: https://wccftech.com/payday-3-might-not-launch-by-2020/

 

[Roguey]

Thinking Psychonauts 2 is going to be a revenue generator.

 

[Heretic]

Nice, optimistic arrow.

 

[agris]

there's no Y axis label, that could be 1950 SEKm to 2000 SEKm.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

How about 0-2000?

 

[agris]

oh hah, i missed the 361...

edit: can't rate my own post as retarded, that's a shame.

 

[Heretic]

361 to 2,000, it's above the columns.

 

[MuscleSpark]

can't rate my own post as retarded, that's a shame.

I gotcha buddy

 

[Grotesque]

there's no Y axis label, that could be 1950 SEKm to 2000 SEKm.

what?

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Can't they come up with a new antagonist. Sure SHODAN is cool, but fucking hell, even on SS2 it was beginning to get repetitive.

 

[Big Wrangle]

SHODAN is what people know System Shock for, so it won't go away anytime. Outside of the logs and shit, the series never had good writing.

 

[LESS T_T]

Kotaku podcast interview with Warren Spector: https://player.fm/series/kotaku-splitscreen/e3-2018-warren-spectors-return-to-system-shock

Not much about System Shock 3, but more about his career and immersive sim in general.

Few interesting points:

- At the moment System Shock 3 team is 20 person team (plus about 5 outside contracts)

- Jason Schreier asked that how System Shock 3 (with its smaller budget and team) would compete to the production values of similar AAA games like Prey. Warren said: "To some extent, production values aren't the most important thing. We gonna have great graphics, don't get me wrong, but the key is the gameplay. The key is all those systems working in combination, and the key is to giving players the freedom to experiment and explore and find their own solutions to problems. That's a design challenge, that's not a money challenge. So I think we can compete pretty well with the bigger games."

- Warren has been said that SS3 might have 'the one thing the world has never seen'. In this interview, he said they're hard at working on that and looking forward to how people would receive that. Sounds like the feature, whatever it is, is likely in.

- He was yet to see the demo of Cyberpunk 2077 at the time of this interview, so unfortunately Jason couldn't hear his impression.

- Jason asked if he has played Divinity Original Sin 2, and he has not but it's on his backlog. Later at the end of the interview when Warren saying the possibility of multiplayer immersive sim, and Jason recommended him to play D:OS 2.

- Also some talk about Suikoden, his dream game ideas (one city block game, interactive musical RPG), immersive/emergent gameplay, etc., pretty much usual things from interviews with him.